Lions Travel to Southern Division Championships

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's water polo team competed in the Southern Division Championships Saturday to close out their season.  They fell to Bucknell 14-6, Washington & Jefferson 15-4 and Salem 13-11.

In the Lions' first match against host Bucknell, a slow start put Behrend behind early. Bucknell took a 9-0 advantage before Ty Elder got the Lions on the board. He later added his second of the game in the fourth quarter to record a team-high two goals.

Grant Garcia (Kingsburg, CA/Kingsburg), Victor Nguyen (San Jose, CA/Evergreen Valley), Troy Valkusky (Drifton, PA/Hazelton) and Ben Katsarsky (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) also tallied goals in the opening game.

Behrend then took on Washington & Jefferson for the fourth time this season. The Presidents went ahead early, jumping out to a 4-1 advantage in the first quarter. Elder recorded the lone goal for the Lions.

W&J controlled the second quarter after outscoring Behrend 4-0 to take a commanding 8-1 lead. The Lions tried to battle back in the third quarter and despite scoring three goals, the deficit was too much to overcome.  Garcia, Valkusky and Justin Spence (Houston, TX/Cy-Fair) all notched goals.

Behrend's final match was a battle with Salem for the third close game between the two sides this season.

After going down 1-0, the Lions went on a 5-0 run to take their first lead of the tournament. Two goals by Valkusky led the Behrend streak.

By the end of the second quarter, the Tigers were able to battle back and cut their deficit to one in a 6-5 game. They were then able to flip the deficit and turn it into a one-goal advantage at 10-9 by the end of the third quarter.

After giving up a goal in the fourth, goals by Elder and Cameron Makin (Pittsburgh, PA/North Allegheny) tied the game at 11 with 3:41 left the play.

Salem rallied to score the next two goals to take home the win. Garcia and Elder each scored three times to lead in the Lions efforts.